Primeval Series 4: Episode 2: He Ain't Heavy
by Seanchaidh
Summary: Following on from MIA. Connor and Abby have moved era, but where are they now? Danny's found his brother, but has he found a lot more than he bargained for? And what has happened to Jenny? Will the ARC team ever pull together?
1. Chapter 1

**Primeval Series 4**

**Episode 2: He Ain't Heavy**

**Chapter 1**

"Slow down!" Danny called, striding through the half light after his new-found brother.

"No time," Kiran called back. "The Imperial Guard will already be aware of the bar fight, and of your disappearance. They may be stupid, but it won't take even them long to work out our involvement."

"Our?" Danny echoed, reaching out a hand to steady himself against the wall of the descending stairway.

"The Rebels. The sub-humans. The underdogs, whatever you want to call us."

"I always did like championing the underdog!" Danny quipped.

"Never was it meant so literally as here," his brother growled.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"I'll tell you later," Kiran stopped so suddenly that Danny nearly walked into him. He turned to face his brother before he spoke again. "From here on in we go as quickly and as quietly as possible," he said. "The stairs are going to start spiralling down in a minute and, when they do, we'll be right next to the central shaft. The sensors in there for the lifts will pick up any odd vibrations through the plas-steel walls, so you keep close and keep quite and you do not touch the wall on the inside of the curve. Understand?"

Danny nodded mutely. Kiran turned and picked up speed again.

XXXX

The anomaly winked out behind them and darkness descended, enveloping them in a cloak of silent black so still that Connor felt the hairs on the back of his neck stand up. He shivered. Through their linked hands, he felt Abby do the same. He couldn't see her, it was too dark for that, so he raised her hand to his lips and kissed the back of her hand.

"Where are we?" Abby asked, her voice no more than the shadow of a whisper. In the dense silence, it was enough.

"No idea," Connor replied, his voice not quite as quiet.

"Shh, what if there are predators?" Abby hissed.

"If there's anything like that here, they'll know about us long before we know about them whether we talk or not," Connor hissed back. "Besides, this is as quiet as I get!"

A scuttling sound broke through the silence and Abby froze, sucking in a long breath, as something small and furry ran over her foot.

"What? What is it?" Connor asked in his best version of a whisper.

"Something's here," Abby squeaked.

"What kind of something?"

The small furry creature squeaked and rubbed its back against Connor's boot. He reached down and picked it up.

"This kind of something?" Connor asked, guiding Abby's hand to the errant proto-mammal.

"That'll be it," she sighed, relaxing and scratching the creature behind the ears. "There's always one, isn't there? Lester's going to kill us if we bring another pet home!"

"As long as we get home, I'll be happy," said Connor, fishing around in his pockets with one hand. "Here, hold this little guy for a minute."

"What are you doing?" Abby asked, taking the squirming fur-ball in both hands.

"Well, I'm betting," Connor began, audibly concentrating on something Abby could not see, "that this chap... can see much better in the dark... than we can." Abby felt him slip something over the creature's head and forelimbs. "There, that should do the trick."

"What did you do, Connor?" Abby reminded.

"I made a little halter for him, didn't I," he said, scratching the animal under the chin and taking him back from Abby. "If we keep a hold of his lead he might be able to lead us out of here!"

"Connor, it's pitch black and this thing likes caves. What makes you think it'll even try to lead us out of anywhere, and what makes you think there's an out for it to lead us to! We might be outside already for all we know!"

"Nah, too dark: there's no stars, no moonlight. Plus there's no movement of air and it's far to still and quiet for outdoors."

"And the creature?"

"He'll be looking for food, won't he? Or water. He'll lead us to that."

"And if the food want's to eat him? Or us?"

Connor seemed to consider that for a moment.

"Okay, not the best outcome," he admitted, grudgingly, "but what other options do we have?"

XXXX

So her head had been exaggerating a little bit, so what? Sarah rolled her eyes and shuddered as Professor Mackenzie performed the autopsy on the giant cockroach now lying on its back with its feet in the air on a table in the middle of the lab. It was how she preferred to see cockroaches, admittedly, but this one still gave her the heebie jeebies! Mack had been calling out numbers to his assistant for half an hour now. Carapace one hundred and five point three centimetres. Antennae one hundred and seventy point three eight centimetres. Body length sixty five point zero eight centimetres. Head forty point two two centimetres. And so on...

Sarah watched as Mackenzie cut into the body of the beast. Some of the bullet holes had gone straight through, leaving damp trails of blue-grey goo smeared across its underside. Haemocyanin, apparently. Curiosity began to get the better of Sarah and she edged closer to the autopsy table. The professor had both hands inside the creature, out of sight.

Suddenly a leg twitched. Sarah screamed and pressed herself flat against the lab wall.

"Nothing to worry about, Doctor Page," Mack said smoothly, without bothering to look up. "Just finding out what bits connect to where."

Sarah unstuck herself from the wall.

"You know, I really should go and check on Becker. I'm sure there's some paperwork he usually fills in for these things."

"All taken care of, Doctor Page," said the professor. "Carrington's taken over Becker's duties while he's out of the field. He'll deal with that."

Carrington was Becker's second in command. It was he who had led the military team at the quarry anomaly. The anomaly the cockroach had come through. Sarah winced as another leg twitched on the autopsy table. It really was quite lifelike.

"All the same," she said, edging to the door, "I'm sure he'd like to feel included..."

XXXX

The thought struck Danny that, if he ever needed to find his way back to the bar, or even the palace, he could never have done so. The myriad maze of tunnels, corridors, stairways and now streets that he had followed his brother through were impossible to keep track of. Even after they veered off, away from the central shaft of the tower and the occasional buzz of the super speed lifts, they hadn't spoken. He was so out of breath from the journey, Danny didn't think he could have said much if he had wanted to, but Kiran's warning had made him wary enough to keep silence until told otherwise. Finally stopping in a foul smelling alleyway, he took a moment to catch his breath while he watched the younger - or was he older now? - man pull something off of a vehicle. What caught Danny's attention first was the lack of wheels.

"Get in," said Kiran, sliding back a door in the dark, streamlined box.

Wordlessly, Danny nodded and climbed inside. Moments later, Kiran followed him, closed the door and knocked twice on the wall behind him. There was a low hum and a sense of rising, followed by a sense of movement, and Danny felt his body pressed back into the seat.

Lights rose almost imperceptibly inside the hover car, as Danny had now decided it must be. The windows were either black or non-existent, though, as he could see nothing outside of it. He looked expectantly at his brother.

"Yes, you can talk now," Kiran answered. "We're safe in here."

"What happened to you? We thought you were dead!"

"I nearly was," Kiran shrugged. "The truth is, I'm still not sure. All I remember is that one minute we're creeping around this spooky old house, for a dare of course, looking for something to take back to prove we'd actually gone in, and Bobby and I spot this light coming from one of the rooms. We go in. I go over to the light, he walks round the room. I put out my hand and it disappears in the light. I take it out, and it's back. The only difference is, my hand feels warmer in the light than out. So I stick my head through and I see this whole other landscape stretching out in front of me. Massive trees and green everywhere. I walk through and there I am, in this other world. I look back and the light's still there on the other side, so I think fine: I'll have a wander round and then go back. It might be Narnia or something.

"Suddenly Bobby comes pelting through the light, screaming at the top of his lungs. And after him comes this... thing. This creature that suddenly goes from the sort of mottled orange of the walls of the room, to the green of the forest around us. Well, the two of us just ran, helter skelter, through the trees as fast as our legs could carry us. When we run out of breath, we finally stop and look around. There's nothing but trees. As far as you could see in every direction, just trees. No creatures, no light. And of course, once we'd finished turning round in circles looking at this, we've no idea what direction we've come from. We walked for a bit, following the land downhill. Neither of us really wanted to go back to the light in case the creature was there, and the running had made us thirsty, so we were hoping there was a stream down there. There was, as it turned out, so we got our drink. That was when we saw the second light. It was across the stream and into the forest a bit.

"We waded across the stream. That wasn't too hard, it was shallow enough and only a couple of metres across. It was climbing the bank on the other side that was the problem. It was quite steep, you see, and muddy. I was taller, so I could reach the top and pull myself up. Bobby had to try and climb up using bits of roots sticking out of the mud. He was having a hard time of it, so I stuck a hand down to him to pull him up. That was when I saw the creature on the other bank. I couldn't pull him up fast enough. The thing was across the stream in one jump and straight onto his back. I heard the screams stop when I was running for the light, so I know he died quickly..." Kiran paused, rubbing a hand across his eyes, his forehead lined. "When I got through the light, I remember being surprised to find I wasn't back in the house. I don't know why: I knew it wasn't the same light I went through. Instead, I had this field stretching out in front of me with thousands and thousands of the things. Every light shining like a whole galaxy of miniature stars. The light behind me was still there, so I didn't think, I just picked one at random and ran for it. As soon as I was through, I fell over. It's hard to run in swampland. I thought I was dead. If the creature didn't catch up with me, something else would. Once I picked myself up, though, I saw the light start doing something weird. It pulsed for a bit, like somebody who feels a sneeze coming on and starts taking those weird deep breaths, then it just vanished. Completely disappeared right in front of me!

"I didn't know what to do. I was completely and utterly lost! I had no idea where I was. I thought I was in another world, on a whole other planet or something. I just turned and wandered. It took me half a day to get out of the swamp. When I did, there was this hut on stilts half built into one of the swamp trees. I don't know what I expected to find, I just went straight up to the door, knocked politely and then, when it was opened to me, collapsed on the front porch."

Danny whistled, his eyebrows raised. "Where were you? How did you get here?" he asked.

"I don't know exactly," Kiran scratched his head absently. "I next woke up in the hut, in a high cot built hanging from the wall. The people who looked after me didn't speak our version of English, but there were a few words I began to recognise. I had some kind of fever though, and I was slipping in and out of it for days. Then, one day, I just woke up here. In the healing rooms, that is. From a dark, wooden swamp hut to the pristine white of the palace healing rooms in the blink of an eye. The people there were different. Well: you've seen them. I met the old kalif then, and Hisham, his youngest son as he was at the time. Pretty much grew up with him. We taught each other our languages, our customs, everything. We were best friends. Then Hisham's eldest brother dies in some weird accident. I wasn't there, but he was. Suddenly everything changes. He refuses to see me. He doesn't return my messages. I felt like I didn't know him any more. Then one day comes the message that I must gather my belongings and leave, on pain of death," Kiran shrugged. "So I did."


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

It wasn't his worst idea.

Granted, both he and Abby had considerably more bruises now than previously, most of his on his forehead, right arm and shoulder, as the prototherid led them through gaps easily large enough for itself with no consideration for the much larger humans relying on its guidance. Granted they were both now hungry and thirsty, and the tiny mammal must be feeling fairly similar. They had made progress, though.

The light level had improved, for one thing. There was now a pale ghost of daylight seeping in through dirt and dust covered windows, high up in the walls around them. They had gone up a bit, so Connor felt fairly sure they had ascended from a basement or cellar of some kind. They might be on the ground floor not, or the lower ground floor at worst, of whatever building they were in. It was certainly a building of some size.

The added light gave Connor the chance to spot the overhanging beam before he walked into it, and he called out a soft warning to Abby. She was walking behind him, her hands on his back, holding on to his shirt. When he thought about those hands, he found it very difficult to concentrate on where he was going. He tried not to think about them.

The prototherid stopped, sniffing at an apparently blank wall in front of it. Connor reached out a hand tentatively. In the dim light he could just begin to make out the slightly darker line of a door frame. In the middle of the door, there was some kind of insignia. He frowned and traced the embossed lettering with his fingertips.

"Abby?" Connor said, his voice wavering and quieter than it had been for a while.

"What is it?" Abby asked, stepping round to his side, one hand drifting down his back and wrapping itself around his waist.

"What do you make of this?" Connor found Abby's free hand and led it to the almost invisible shapes on the door.

He waited in silence as she traced the outline for herself.

"It can't be..." Abby's voice trailed off.

"It is though, isn't it?"

"It definitely says ARC, I'm sure of it."

"But not the same ARC? Is it?"

"No, not the same. The design is different."

"So we're in the future, anyway..."

"But which future?" Abby's hand brushed over Connor's in the darkness and she heard him breathe in sharply. For a long moment they stood there facing each other in silence, each considering the myriad possibilities they might have to face. An impatient squeak from the prototherid brought them back to their current situation.

"We'll have to go through it," Connor sighed, moving his hand away to the side of the door. "See if you can find a handle or something."

Abby moved her hand in the opposite direction, tracing her way around the insignia and finding the edge of the door. As she ran her fingers up the side, she found a hinge. Running them back down again, she found the other hinge. The handle, if there was one, had to be on Connor's side.

"Just hinges here," she reported back quietly.

She had kept her left hand knotted in the fabric of his shirt while she traced the outline of the ARC logo. The surprise, first in finding and recognising the letters, then in realising they were in a format she had never come across before, even in the future world they had visited in pursuit of first Jack, then Helen, had loosened her hold. As Connor stretched upward, the fabric shifted under her hand and felt her fingers brush across bare skin. That caused another intake of breath from Connor. She bit her lip and tried to repress a smirk. She had a vague recollection, still hazy but getting slowly stronger, of waking up in the midst of her fever. A few things stood out. One was Connor's worried face as he tried to get her to drink. The other was the mixture of relief and terror that played across his features as she told him, in somewhat slurred tones, that she loved him too. They hadn't mentioned it since then - there was too much else to think about with the pteranodon and the anomaly device... There had been moments though. Little tiny moments. Things that Abby noticed and picked up on. Things that showed up the slight, almost imperceptible change in their relationship.

What there was of it, anyway.

First there had been the hand-holding. Okay, so maybe she'd started that, just before they walked through the anomaly, but he hadn't exactly shied away from her. Then there was the kiss. That little, gentle, kiss on the back of her hand to reassure her when she was afraid. Now it seemed like there was some bizarre magnet between them, that drew them in but kept them at a distance at the same time, unable to let go and move apart, yet avoiding contact like it burned them. The uncertainty of their current situation had a hand in that. There was no way they could resolve that building tension between them when they didn't know either where they were, when they were or what insane and hungry creature lay around the next corner waiting to eat them.

Yet another reason to find a way home, Abby thought, letting the fabric of Connor's top drift back down under her fingers as he worked his way down the door.

It turned out there was a catch in the wall that released the door. It still worked and the door swung open as it was pushed. They made their way through into a cooler, but brighter room.

There was more light here for two reasons. For a start, the windows were larger. They were still dust covered on the inside and dirt covered on the outside, but they were larger and that suggested that they were on the ground floor at least, rather than the lower ground. A few of the windows were broken too, letting in the bulk of the light, and Connor made his way over to them, picking up the prototherid and tucking the small, furry bundle into his hood. It wriggled a bit and uttered a few complaints, then curled up and lay still, presumably asleep. The light was bright outside, but not too bright. Connor winced at the change, and shaded his eyes with his hand, but soon found they had got used to the new light levels.

The world outside looked decidedly similar to the one through which they had chased Helen, and been pursued by predators. There were a few subtle changes, though. Although it looked run down, there were few abandoned cars in the street outside, and those that were there sat by the side of the road, not in the centre. There were more plants and the buildings looked in better repair than previously. There were no signs of animal life, either human, predator or giant flying insect. Deciding it was worth the risk, Connor stuck his head full out of the window and looked around.

There was a ditch like a dry moat running all along the other side of the wall. Climbing out of the window wasn't the best option in the world. A hundred yards or so along, Connor spotted a bridge reaching from the building to the banking on the other side. That was one option then. He spotted a ledge in the wall running from the bridge towards him and followed it along to below the window. Only then did his eyes refocus on the bottom of the trench and widen slightly.

"Abby!" Connor called out, causing a slight movement from the occupants of the moat. "You might want to see this!"

Abby was at his side quickly. She had never been far from it, even in the light of the new room. She looked down and swore.

"I think giant insects are still on the menu," Connor groaned.

"What are they?" Abby asked, trying to make out one single individual amongst the fidgeting mass of shapes.

"Unsurprisingly," Connor sighed, "they are natures greatest survivors. At least as far as I can make them out. I'm reasonably sure they're some kind of giant cockroach."

"Some kind? You mean there's more than one?" Abby raised an eyebrow.

"Well, more than one kind of cockroach certainly," Connor replied, in wounded tones. "They're one of the oldest body designs in the world! Even in our time there's loads of different species!"

"Do any of these species eat meat?" Abby asked pointedly.

Connor considered this and then nodded. "They're nature's cleaners too, so I guess so," he said. "At this size, I'm sure they'd love the extra protein. We should probably try to avoid them."

"You think?"

XXXX

The hover car drifted to a stop and Danny woke with a start. He hadn't really been aware of falling asleep, but after Kiran had announced his intention to get some rest, conversation had become somewhat non-existent. After inspecting the inside of the hover car in more detail, Danny had got bored. There was no view, nobody to talk to and no in flight movie to make up for it. He had leant back in his seat and closed his eyes, trying to go over everything that had happened since his arrival. At some point during that, he'd dropped off. Looking over at his brother, he saw that Kiran was also stirring.

"Where are we?" Danny asked as soon as his brother's eyes were fully open.

"You always were impatient," Kiran muttered. "If everything went to plan, we should be out of the city by now. We had to move our headquarters: the Guard were getting too close. We're out in the swamplands. The tree-marshes."

"How do you get a marsh with trees in it?" Danny quibbled.

"Don't ask me, but we have them," Kiran replied with a shrug. "That's evolution for you. I'm sure there are similar things in our time - rain forests and mangroves and so on - but not quite like this. Certainly not on this scale. Imagine the everglades in Florida, but dryer, or Walthamstow marshes but a bit wetter and with trees. Really, really big trees! Once you're out of the city, the land gets gradually wetter and wetter until you get to the sea. Then there's just the archipelagos in one direction, and the ocean in the other."

"Sounds like you've seen most of the remaining land left on the planet!" Danny laughed in disbelief.

"Oh, I have," Kiran nodded thoughtfully. "The old kalif thought his sons should know as much as possible about the world they would rule, and where Hisham went, I followed. I did back then, anyway."

The door of the hovercraft opened and Danny looked out. Dark bars blocked his few, but the air that came in with the breeze was fresh and clean, unlike the air of the city. Kiran clambered out of the vehicle, then turned and waited for his brother to follow. As Danny pulled himself out of the hover car, his eyes were dragged upwards by the dark bars. They were roots! Giant, dark brown roots. They soared upwards, meeting at a rough estimation of the centre of the tree and twisting on up as they melded into one to become the trunk. Danny became aware that his mouth was open and closed it with an audible snap of teeth.

"I did say: big trees!" Kiran grinned.

Danny followed Kiran and another man, presumably the driver of the hover car, along a wooden causeway. It was quite a walk, but eventually they reached their destination. The lift into which Danny now stepped was a far cry for the super-fast plas-steel contrivances of the palace and the city. There were no walls for one thing. For another, the rough wooden crate in which they stood was being hauled up by a stout rope. It took an hour of slow ascent to reach the next wooden platform. An hour Danny spent gazing around himself in wonder and awe, firing random questions at his brother and occasionally receiving answers. There was a welcoming committee on the platform. Front and centre, and the first person Kiran led Danny over to, was a tall, statuesque woman, her dark brown hair falling in two long braids behind her back. Her eyes were fixed on Danny, flicking across to Kiran with a smile as he drew near.

"Lena," Kiran began, in his and Danny's own language, "allow me to introduce my brother, Danny Quinn. Danny," he turned to face his brother. "Allow me to introduce Lena Quinn, my wife."

XXXX

They hadn't had to use the ledge. Connor was thankful for that. The doors on the other side of the room had been as easy to open as the first. One of them led to a cupboard, the other to a corridor. The corridor had led past a variety of other rooms and eventually to a hallway. The hallway had led to the main entrance, or, in this case, exit. The bridge stood in front of them. It had seen better days, that was certain. The prototherid had woken up again and was now sitting on Connor's shoulder like an overgrown pet rat. Its long whiskers tickled as it sniffed the air around it. Just in case it should decide to take a flying leap, or scramble down to explore, Connor carefully detached it and settled it in the rucksack, leaving the zip open a little at the top to let air in.

"Sorry, little fella, but we might have to run in a minute," he apologised quietly to the mammal.

"Connor," Abby put a hand on his arm and he looked round.

He should have looked the other way when he stuck his head out of the window back in that room. About five or six hundred yards along the moat, a set of stone steps led up to the main road. Inwardly, Connor groaned. The cockroaches were already restless. If they decided there was food or a threat up above, it was easy enough for them to climb up and find out.

"Okay, so we keep quiet," he said, taking Abby's hand again, "cross the bridge, turn in the other direction once we're over it, then run like the clappers!"

"That's the plan," Abby agreed, squeezing his hand.

The bridge was quite shaky. Concrete and steel though it might once have been, it was now becoming dust and rust. They were nearly at the other side when the first large chunk fell. Connor looked down. Beneath them, the swarm surged into life, the seething mass of insects all heading for the stairs.

"Run!" Abby shouted, dragging him with her.

They ran like the devil himself was chasing them, never looking back, dodging round cars and walls and buildings. Suddenly, a flicker of light caught Abby's eye.

"There," she cried. "Anomaly!"

They swerved round and headed in the direction of the light. It was an anomaly. Connor's breath caught as he realised it was locked. He'd have to unlock it and fast, but did that mean, could that mean, that this one would take them home? He didn't know anyone else with an anomaly lock, but that didn't mean his design hadn't spread in the future. He let go of Abby's hand and swung the backpack off his back, pulling Helen's forgotten device out of one of the pockets without so much as breaking his stride. They couldn't get caught now. Not when they were so close. With desperate fingers he punched at the controls of the device, hoping the same command to open a closed anomaly would work on a locked one. With only a few more strides to go, the anomaly burst into its full glory and together they hurtled through, Connor turning with such speed that the momentum of his previous run carried him over onto his back. He fired the device again and the anomaly immediately condensed back into its locked state, trapping the closest of the giant cockroaches halfway through. The sight of the oversized head and forelimbs stuck in mid air, wiggling, made Connor laugh out loud in relief. He lay back on the ground, laughing, one hand holding on to the device, the backpack looped over that arm, and the other stretching out for Abby.

Abby wasn't there.

The relieved laughter stopped instantly and Connor looked round. She had definitely come through the anomaly with him. He was sure of that. He didn't spot her until he had turned himself right round and onto his knees, his back to the anomaly. She was standing there, a little distance away from him, her back towards him and her hands in the air. Facing her was a semicircle of black-clad soldiers. The one who appeared to be in charge was not Becker.

Swearing inwardly, Connor scrambled to his feet, shushed the worried squeaks of the prototherid and slung the backpack back into place. He hurried over to Abby, taking his place at her side as two other new faces walked up to flank the unknown captain. Was this what Cutter had felt like when he came back from the Permian raving about Claudia Brown?

"I knew I shouldn't have caught those fish!" Connor sighed.

XXXX

Sarah laughed. It really was quite ridiculous when you thought about it: running away from a dead insect. She was glad she had told Becker the story though. It had brought a rare smile to his face. He had even laughed.

He was up and about now, but still heavily bandaged and confined to the ARC. The confinement itself was trying for him. Sarah remembered how bored she had become, stuck in the ARC doing research, and that was her line of work. It must surely be worse for someone like Becker, standing by and watching while his men put themselves in harms way. They had been sitting on the sofa, chatting, for almost half an hour now, but she could see his mind was elsewhere. Mack and the others had gone back to the quarry anomaly and Sarah could tell Becker was itching to go with them.

They were quite close now, seated side by side. Some of the stories they'd been telling each other had been told quietly, secretively, their heads bent close together and giggles shaking their shoulders until Becker had complained his ribs were hurting. It was intriguing watching him laugh. Sarah had been beginning to think he didn't have a sense of humour. But he was different when he wasn't on duty, as so many people were. Daring more than she had ever done before, Sarah brushed a strand of the normally impeccable dark hair back into place. Becker looked round at her touch.

Sarah felt her breath catch. Never before had those eyes been quite so close, or looked quite so deeply at her. Before she even knew what she was doing, she had closed the remaining gap between them, kissing him full on the lips.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

"Becker?" Lester stuck his head into the on-site quarters and looked around. The captain's head and shoulders appeared over the other side of the sofa, his hair slightly more rumpled than was usual. Lester raised an eyebrow. "I know you're bored," he continued, his acerbic tones doing little to hide the dry amusement in his voice, "but when you and Doctor Page have quite finished tidying yourselves up, I believe there's a Mr Temple and a Miss Maitland on their way here to see you both. Thank you!"

Becker sat back in the sofa, rolling his eyes and hoping Lester had been alone in that corridor. Beside him, Sarah sat up and ran a hand through her hair. She'd have to find a hairbrush. So would he, probably. It could have been worse, he told himself. He shouldn't have kissed her back, admittedly, but he hadn't really been expecting her to kiss him in the first place. If he'd had some warning, or clues, maybe he could have avoided... Well, it was done now anyway. As usual, he'd made a total mess of things and he had no idea how best to sort it out. As he ran a hand over his face, Sarah stood up.

"We should go," she said. "I should go, anyway. Sort this..." she pulled the loose hair band out of her hair and roughly remade the ponytail.

Becker nodded. "I'll be along in a bit," he said, leaning on his elbows. He heard the door close as Sarah left and let his head fall into his hands. Confusion reigned. He liked Sarah. She was a friend. They got on. He'd never even considered the possibility of anything else between them. They'd probably be good together. They always had made a good team in the past. On the other hand, he felt guilty. Guilty for not spotting Sarah's feelings for him. Guilty because he had thought he was beginning to develop feelings for someone else. Guilty because it was her face that had flashed into his mind when he kissed Sarah back.

XXXX

The ARC had changed a bit, but not much, Connor thought as they clambered out of the brand new pickup that had replaced the old one in their absence. Apparently, although the old hilux could take crashing into dead trees, attack by giant prehistoric birds, attack by future bats, attack by giganotosaurus and even attacking a gorgonopsid, it had baulked at a pothole on the M2.

Lester met them at the door of the atrium with the closest thing to a smile they'd every seen from him. They exchanged a few pleasantries, then their ever professional boss decided he needed to speak to Abby in his office and left Connor in the welcoming embrace of a jubilant Sarah Page.

"We tried to find you, we really did!" Sarah explained, finally letting Connor have the use of his ribs again.

"It's okay, it's fine," Connor grinned. "We're back, we're well, we're only slightly hungry. I mean we were only stuck there for what? Three days? Four?"

Sarah stepped back, a look of confusion clouding her features.

"Connor," she said, watching his bemused expression, "you've been gone more than four months!"

Connor could feel his face fall. "What?"

"I'm not kidding Connor," Sarah shook her head. "Go look at a newspaper or something!"

"But," Connor frowned. So many things had jumped into his head at once it was hard to pick one of them to voice. "But Rex," he settled for. "Sid, Nancy, my Star Wars collectors edition!"

"They're all here," Sarah put a hand on his arm. "Well, the animals are here, anyway," she corrected herself. "Jack Maitland's looking after the flat, and the mini. That's probably the paperwork Lester's taking Abby through just now. He was her only living relative, you see, so when the minister had you declared missing, presumed dead, he took over everything of hers. We didn't know what to do with your stuff and we couldn't separate out half of it anyway, apart from the obvious. Becker's got those at his place."

The fact that he hadn't yet seen Becker finally registered in Connor's brain. He looked around expectantly. "Where is he anyway?"

"I left him in one of the in-house apartments," Sarah replied. "He said he was on his way down. I expected him to be here by now."

"Since when do we have in-house apartments?" Connor frowned, thinking back to the time he had spent sleeping in an office before moving in with Lester.

"Just a few months," Sarah shrugged. "Lester thought they'd be a good idea for some reason. Don't know why. Come on, I'll show you. They're up by the medical wing."

"It's fine, I'll find them," Connor said, looking up at the sound of a door opening to see a rather annoyed Abby stomping out of Lester's office. "You know you really should spend some time catching up with Abby. I'm sure she'd love someone to vent at right now, bye!"

If Sarah had said something as he hurried away, Connor hadn't heard it. He shifted the weight of the backpack on his back and a squeak reminded him of its extra occupant. The prototherid had been quiet throughout the journey back to the ARC and he'd actually forgotten it was there. He stopped on the stairs and swung the bag round, checking to see there was nobody in sight before opening the zip a little more and watching a small, furry, pointy nose with massive whiskers pop out of the bag and start sniffing at the air.

"I know," Connor said quietly. "Lots of new smells and stuff. Don't worry: you'll get used to it. We'll have to keep you hidden for a bit though. Uncle Lester won't be too happy to see you, no he won't. We'll have to think of a name for you too, won't we? Yes we will. Yes we will."

"Temple, why are you talking to a bag like a gibbering idiot?" Becker's weary tones cut through Connor's descent into silly voice and baby talk like a hot knife through butter. Connor immediately hid the bag behind him and the prototherid squeaked in protest.

Becker feinted to the left, then grabbed to the right as Connor swung the bag away from the captain's left hand. It really was too easy, Becker thought. The words "candy" and "baby" could even be applied in this case. He pulled the bag open and peered inside, then dropped the bag with a shout of alarm.

"Dammit, Temple! I hate rats!"

"He's not a rat!" Connor replied in wounded tones, bending down and extricating the prototherid from the folds of the silver emergency blanket that had, being the next thing down in the bag and having been stuffed there unfolded by Connor, landed on top of the creature in a heap. "He's a prototherid. One of the earliest mammals."

"It looks like a rat to me," said Becker, unconvinced and keeping his distance.

"They're more like shrews, actually," said Connor, happily scratching the little animal behind it's satellite dish ears. "In fact, that would be a great name for them, if they haven't already got one: _Prototheria soriciforma_!"

"I prefer Colin."

"I can live with that."

Aware that Becker was still keeping his distance from the newly Christened Colin, Connor let the captain pick up the fallen contents of the backpack and followed him up the stairs. The new apartments were just at the top. There were four of them, each containing a semi-open plan bedroom and living area, with a tiny kitchen area on one side and an en suite on the other. Connor sat down on one side of the sofa and shifted uncomfortably. He detached one hand from the furry mammal long enough to reach behind him and drag a rather large earring out from under one of the cushions. He looked at it, frowned, then looked up at Becker suspiciously.

"Wasn't Sarah wearing the other one of these when I was talking to her downstairs?"

XXXX

"I cannot believe they just gave the place to Jack!" Abby ranted, storming through the building in the direction of the menagerie as Sarah hurried to keep up. "They declared us dead!"

"Missing, presumed dead," Sarah corrected. "It's not quite the same thing."

"We were only gone four days!"

"Four months here!"

"He's an idiotic jerk with absolutely no thought for anyone but himself!"

"He's your only living relative!"

"Not for much longer, if anything's happened to that flat!"

A familiar chirrup stopped the ranting short as the Sarah closed the menagerie door behind them. In a move that reminded Abby of the first time she'd thought she'd lost Rex, the coelurosauravus glided down into her arms, all four feet pointing outward, and landed on her chest. Folding his wings back behind him, Rex licked at Abby's nose and chirped again.

"At least nothing's happened to you, Rex," Abby smiled down as Rex turned and curled up in her arms, his tail flicking back and forth lazily. "My lizards, my flat and my mini. I'll get them all back, just you wait."

Scratching idly at her neck and surreptitiously removing the single remaining earring whose partner she'd just realised she'd lost, Sarah cleared her throat. "How does two out of three grab you?"

XXXX

Danny looked around the collection of woven wood huts perched on the massive tree root. The community was like nothing he'd ever seen before, except maybe in films and inhabited by small furry teddy-bear-like creatures that seemed to get a lot of enjoyment out of riding motorbikes that were far too big and far too fast for them. The view was like nothing else too. He felt like he'd been shrunk down to the size of gnat. Everything was massive, stretching up above him out of sight. He didn't dare look down.

The welcoming committee that had met him at the lift had dispersed, leaving him with only his brother and sister-in-law. Together they had walked up the root, following a path worn into the bark by many years of use. The distance between Danny and the ground now was more than double what it had been at the lift, and that had been far enough!

"Why build so far up?" Danny had asked as they walked. "Surely the root was wide enough where the lift is."

"Too low," Lena had replied quietly. "We do not build within reach of the swamp beasts."

Danny had looked to his brother for an explanation.

"Let me put it this way," said Kiran, putting a reassuring hand on Danny's shoulder that somehow failed to fulfil its purpose. "It's not just the trees that are bigger out here."

The conversation had turned to why they were out here in the first place. Apparently it was safer. The tree villages were harder to find in the swamps, being almost invisible from below. Although the land was a bit dryer than the swamps Danny had come across in his own time, most notably the everglades on a golfing trip to Florida, it would still have been difficult to bring anything ground based across it and the hovercars were easily spotted on some sort of detector thing Kiran had tried to explain to him and failed miserably. He'd have got on well with Connor, Danny thought.

As far as Danny could make out, this was only one of a number of Rebel hiding places. They could stay here for a few nights, but no more. Once they had rested and filled Danny in on the many and varied reasons for their very existence, he, Kiran, Lena and a small group of other known and wanted Rebels would be heading out beyond the borders of the City lands.

Danny smiled weakly and reminded himself not to look down. He somehow didn't think the hovercar would be coming up to collect them at their doors.


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

"I'm going to kill him!" Abby raged, storming up the stairs with Sarah and Rex in tow.

"Jack or Connor, just so I know?" Sarah ventured breathlessly. She might have spent more time running around after creatures than previously these past four months, but her fitness levels certainly didn't match Abby's, especially not when Abby was in a bad mood!

"Both of them!" Abby snapped. "I can't believe the idiot showed him how to work e-bay!"

"He would probably have found out anyway..."

"Jack's a wizard with computer games, but he's terrible with computer anything else!"

"We know his friend knew how to use it!" Sarah suggested.

"Only because he tried to sell Rex on it! Jack promised me he'd have nothing more to do with him!"

"I'm sure Connor has a reasonable explanation..."

Sarah's remonstrations were cut off by the sound of the door to Becker's room hitting the wall. Catching the wildly swinging door and settling it, Sarah watched Connor shoot vertically upwards from the sofa and do his best to keep it between himself and Abby.

"How could you!" Abby was screaming, circling the sofa but never quite catching up with Connor.

"How could I what?" Connor yelped, ducking as a cushion was hurled in his direction. "What have I done?"

"That jerk of a brother of mine!" Abby spat. "He's sold it!"

"The flat?" Connor's eyebrows shot up.

"My Mini!" Another cushion spiralled towards Connor's head.

"Ow!" Connor ducked a little too slowly.

From the sofa, Becker stood up. Enough was enough, and the pair of them circling him was starting to make him feel dizzy. He grabbed Abby's arms, pinning them to her sides and wrapping his arms round her to keep her from getting away from him. He wasn't entirely sure how to classify the fleeting expression that crossed Connor's face when he did that, but he did hear a mumbled "thanks" as cushions were being picked up.

His face under control, and his mind working a little more clearly, Connor emerged from behind the sofa.

"Okay, don't yell at me!" Connor waved an admonishing hand at Abby. "I get that no mini equals bad! I do! Honest! I just don't get how it's my fault?"

"He sold it on e-bay!" Abby growled, her lower arms stubbornly folded. She knew there was no point trying to get out of the soldier's grasp. She could have got away from Connor easily if he'd tried it. Not so much with Becker.

"Ah," Connor's face fell. Now that did make a bit more sense. There was still one last recourse though. Connor spread his hands desperately. "I couldn't have known he'd do that!"

"What did you think he was going to sell? He's gambled away everything worth anything that he actually owns!"

"He said he had a couple of DVDs he wanted to get rid of!"

"With any luck, they were your digitally re-mastered Star Wars ones!"

"Ooh, that's harsh!"

"Mini!"

"Granted!"

XXXX

If there was a sun up there above the distant canopy, Danny thought, there wasn't much warmth coming from it. He pulled the loose woollen coat closer round him and reminded himself not to look down. Judging by how much more up there was, there couldn't be that much down left, but until the elevator had landed, he wasn't going to check.

With a slight thud that made his knees buckle a little, they finally reached semisolid earth. Danny looked around him and spotted a hovercraft waiting for them. This one was larger than the last and more obviously equipped with firepower. It looked as if it could have eaten the previous craft for breakfast! He certainly hoped it could take on one of these mythical "swamp-beasts" he'd been hearing about.

The bed he'd been given had been comfy enough. The blankets warm enough. The meal filling enough. It was the stories he'd heard around the proverbial campfire that had kept Danny Quinn awake all night! Stories of giant invertebrates, adapted to catapult themselves into the air high enough to reach the lower roots of the giant mangrove-ish trees these people lived on. Stories about how, should one of these creatures catch up with you, the venom in their proboscis paralysed you almost instantly, slowly digesting you from the inside out before the beast sucked up the dissolved contents of the shell that had been your body.

Yes, it had been a fun evening...

The hovercraft was even larger up close. There was room enough to stand upright inside, and there were even separate rooms. It was more like a spaceship straight out of Star Wars or something, in fact. Danny followed Kiran and Lena through to a room that held a table surrounded by comfortable looking chairs. Taking the seat he was offered, he found they were as comfortable as they looked, adjusting automatically to suit the individual's body height and shape. There was a dull clunk behind him and the sense of movement that told him the hovercraft had taken off. They were on their way.

"Where are we going?" Danny asked his brother.

"Outside the range of the patrols," Kiran replied, spreading out a roll of mostly blue paper on the table. He touched something invisible on his side of the desk and the curling edges of the roll immediately flattened onto the table top. "Magnets," he muttered, pre-empting Danny's next question.

"Welcome to our world," said Lena quietly, leaning forward and placing a carved tower on the centre of what was now clearly a map. Danny stood up to get a better look as his sister-in-law began pointing out features in the unrecognisable landscape before them. "The tower represents The City. Note that it is in the centre of the world map."

"Why is that?" Danny interrupted.

"It is the sole remaining city on earth," Lena replied.

"How?" Danny frowned, running his fingers over the map. "Why? There are other land masses. What happened?"

Lena exchanged a glance with her husband, who nodded and reached for a raised part of the wall. The seemingly empty plas-steel wall blazed with colour as an image of Danny's Earth appeared. It was orientated differently, with India in the centre of the map, but it was still easily recognisable. As Danny watched, the edges of the land masses began to slowly disappear, and the plates themselves moved across the view.

"You are watching a speeded up projection of your world as it gradually became ours," Lena explained. "The movement of the tectonic plates is natural and easily plotted. If you watch the Indian plate, you will see that it is still pushing northwards into the Eurasian plate, raising up the land immediately north of the Himalayas. The disappearance of the coastlines is due to the melting of the polar ice caps. This is not as easy to plot. The only two things we know about it is that it happened and something caused it to happen. Not a natural event. The combination of these factors has raised up the land you are now living in. What was once a high plateau some five kilometres or so above the sea level, is now an island, with a chain of islands to the south. That chain of islands is what remains of the Himalayas. Incidentally, you may be interested to know that you can now add climbing Everest to your CV: that was the island you were found on."

Danny's eyebrows felt like they were glued to his hairline.

"What about the higher points over in the Americas?" Danny waved a hand at the area on the screen where he had just watched the Amazon basin and much of North America disappear.

"No contact has ever been made," Lena shrugged. "Exploratory troops have failed to find any signs of human life."

"Or subhuman life," Kiran added distastefully.

XXXX

"Thanks for doing this," Becker murmured quietly. "Mack or Lester would have demanded it was sent home as soon as we could get Helen's anomaly device working again!"

"It's fine," Meg grinned down at the small furry form curled up in the bottom of the sawdust floored vivarium. "It's not perfect, but it's the best we've got just now. I've got some of Spike's old stuff at home. I'll bring it in tomorrow and we can set him up properly."

"Spike?" Becker raised an eyebrow.

"My old rat," Meg explained, her smile faltering just a little. She was quick to notice the change in Becker's expression. "He died a while ago, it's okay. I just never got around to putting his stuff out."

"You owned a rat?" Becker fought to keep his voice neutral and his eyebrows level.

"Two rats actually," Meg grinned again. "Angel and Spike. They're very sociable creatures. Highly intelligent. Clean. They make great pets."

"You're a very strange girl," said Becker, trying to look serious.

"I do my best," Meg shrugged, grinning.

"What are you two up to now?" Sarah's voice cut sharply through the silly grins on the conspirators faces and Meg dropped the cover over Colin's new home with a start.

"How's Abby?" Becker asked, standing up and turning to face Sarah, ready to make an excuse should she decide that public displays of affection were called for.

"Calming down, slowly," Sarah dragged her fingers along the work bench as she made her way over to Becker. Meg was on her feet now too, the covered box having been pushed back under the desk, out of sight.

"And Connor?" Becker studiously avoided Sarah's gaze. They really could do with repainting that ceiling.

"Still in one piece," Sarah shrugged. She was right next to them now, and she hadn't missed the kittenish attempt at a glare from Meg. "At least he was when I left them."

"I'd better go and make sure they're okay," Becker extracted himself from the claustrophobic company of the two young women and was at the door faster than if he'd had a dozen cleaner clones on his tail.

XXXX

"Thanks for the lift, mate," Connor called in to the black Mitsubishi pickup as he closed the door.

"No worries," Becker replied, through the open window. "I'll hang around for a while in case you need anything."

"You don't have to," Connor shrugged. "We might be a while."

"I'm in no rush," Becker pulled a face. "The ARC will survive without me for an hour or so, and they can always radio me in if there's an anomaly."

"Thanks."

"Can't leave you on your own," Becker raised an eyebrow, the corner of his lip curling maliciously. "What if she decides to try and beat you up again?"

"I can handle Abby," Connor breezed.

"CONNOR!" Abby's voice called him back to what he should have been doing. "KEYS!"

Becker smirked as Connor hurried off, rolling his eyes, but only when he was far enough away that Abby couldn't see him do so.

Lester had supplied them with the keys to the flat, having mysteriously acquired them in the past few hours since they had arrived back in the present. Connor fumbled with the lock and Abby grabbed them off him, impatient to see what damage her rogue brother had done to the place. It wasn't like there would be much, Connor thought. He hadn't missed the ARC operative surreptitiously remove Rex from Becker's room while Abby had been crying on Sarah's shoulder and throwing the occasional evil look, or non-breakable object, at him. If he knew Lester, the unwanted and now physically endangered Jack had been given a direct order to pack his bags and get out of there, and the ARC team had been in to pick up the pieces.

He had a hard time keeping up with Abby as she flew into the flat and zoomed around like a miniature whirlwind, checking lizards, snakes, electrical goods and anything else that might have been disposed of by Jack. He spotted a few gaps in the DVD collection, and his X-Box was gone, but the wail that penetrated the very foundations of the building shortly after Abby disappeared into her room put any idea of complaint out of his mind. He took the stairs three at a time.

"What's he done?" Connor gasped, breathless from the exertion and holding on to the door frame for support. Abby was kneeling on the floor in the middle of the room, the contents of her jewellery box spread out before her.

"How could he?" Abby screamed. "They were our Mum's! They'd been in the family for generations!"

"What? What's he taken?" Connor dropped to his knees beside her and wrapped his arms around her. The tears dripped down onto his sleeves. He'd never seen her so upset.

"My mother's wedding jewellery," Abby sobbed. "They were the most expensive things in there and he knew it. Pearl and diamond necklace, earrings and bracelet. Diamond engagement ring and her wedding ring. The necklace, bracelet and earrings were antiques. They'd been handed down the women in my family for five generations. They were usually passed from mother to daughter on the daughter's wedding day. Mum gave them to me when we found out she was dying. She said: she might not be able to be there in person, but at least she could still give me my 'something old' and that meant she'd be there in spirit at least."

"We'll find them," Connor held Abby closer. "I'll track them down, I promise. He's not that bright. He'll have left a trail. We'll find him and I'll take Becker round and he can hold him upside down until the little runt confesses and tells us what he did with them. We'll get them back. I promise."


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5**

Connor stared at the wall opposite him. Abby was quiet now. Asleep. She had worn herself out crying and lay curled up in his arms. Even though she was sound asleep, he couldn't bring himself to lift her onto the bed and leave her. He had held her close all evening, stroking her hair and whispering comforting words, and in some cases the many and varied ways he could think of to inflict pain on Jack when he finally caught up with him. No matter how bizarre he made these suggestions, however, he still couldn't raise a smile from Abby: the betrayal had been so utterly complete.

Sleep was proving elusive for him, tired as he was. It was a combination of the somewhat uncomfortable position he was in and the fact his brain wouldn't stop trying to work out how to find Jack, and what to do with him when he did. He might not even have to worry about the former: Becker had also heard Abby's initial cry and come running, maybe too fast in Connor's opinion, but he wasn't sure he was being entirely rational on that front. The tough army captain was fine with giant man-eating insects, but apparently less so with crying human females, and he'd left soon after, leaving Connor to deal with Abby and promising to get on Jack's case straight away.

XXXX

Becker sat in the lab at the ARC, bending over the keyboard and resting his head in his hands. He'd contacted friends in the police force, ironically contacts he'd made through Danny at a time when neither he, nor said contacts could stand the man. How things had changed! For once, he actually missed the guy. He was no detective. He left it up to the geeks like Connor to find stuff, then he went round and did his action man stuff. He'd promised Abby he'd find her brother though. It was the least he could do, after failing so miserably to find her and Connor in the first place. And Danny.

A squeak from his side roused him from his reverie and he looked round. The not-a-rat-honestly, Colin, was sticking its furry, long-whiskered nose through the bars of its new cage. Meg had made good on her word and brought the old rat cage in ahead of time. Perhaps she'd been anxious to keep out of Sarah's way too.

"How did I get myself into this?" Becker asked the protruding nose, spreading his hands, palms upwards. "Why do I always make such an utter mess of everything remotely normal? Order men around: easy. Hunt down and kill or capture dinosaurs: not a problem. Take on a few dozen of the future's scariest predators and come out on top: simple! Talk to girls?"

The nose shifted and a pair of large eyes came into view in the dim light. Colin squeaked sympathetically. At least Becker chose to believe it was sympathetically. For all he knew, that squeak could be the proto-whatsit version of hysterical laughter. Or just plain indifference.

"I know, I know: I should be concentrating on this," Becker continued, gesturing at the computer monitor in front of him. "I'm getting nowhere with that either, though. Last known address: empty. All contact numbers have been either cut off or switched off. I have no clue where to go from there! It's a complete dead end!"

Colin chirped, turned round and snuffled around in the sawdust at the bottom of his cage. A quiet crunching told Becker the little fur-ball had found one of the dead crickets that had been hidden around the cage to make sure its hunting instincts remained intact, just in case Lester made them try to send it back.

"Yeah, you're right," Becker sighed, pushing his chair back and standing up. "I should probably see if there is any food left in this place and go to bed."

Locking the computer, Becker replaced Colin's cage in its hidden corner and brushed the blanket back down over the sides. It was a good three minutes after he'd left before a figure entered by the door on the other side of the lab and made its way over to the computer.

With deft fingers, the shadow unlocked the computer, hacking into Becker's login and bringing up the pages the captain had been looking at. After a few moments perusing the pages, the shadow brought out a mobile phone and pressed a speed-dial button. The phone rang a while, then an abrupt voice answered.

"I know what time it is," growled Mack's voice into the phone. "D'you really think I'd contact you at this hour if it wasn't important? There's been a development." Mack paused while the voice bit off a few more curt words. "They've started looking for the boy. The soldier has, anyway, but it won't be long before he gets the others involved. He hasn't found anything concrete, but to anyone with half an ounce of sense it's enough to look suspicious. You'd better move him."

The voice buzzed angrily through the phone, like a bluebottle trapped between a window and a curtain.

"Of course I mean now!" Mack replied sharply. "I don't care who you have to pay to get the job done, just get it done. Make sure your tracks are covered. If the Maitland boy is found, or if his disappearance is linked back to me in any way, shape or form, getting enough beauty sleep will be the least of your worries!"

The buzzing voice on the other end of the line clicked off into sudden silence as Mack hung up.

XXXX

Danny clung to the arm supports on either side of his seat, his knuckles white. A shudder ran through the hovercraft. It wasn't the first and it probably wouldn't be the last either. He wasn't sure whether it was the crashes themselves, or the fact that he now knew what was causing them, that worried Danny so much.

The journey had been uneventful at first. Kiran and Lena had talked him through the history of the planet, from his time to theirs with as few gaps as possible. It hadn't taken as long as he expected: there seemed to be quite a lot of gaps. The section on the formation of, and various dynasties in charge of, the City had probably taken longer than the rest of the known history of the world he now found himself in. History had made way to zoology with the first of the alarms. They had barely had time to strap themselves into the wall-side seats that had escaped his notice until then before a crash and a sense of sudden sideways movement dragged a ripe swearword from Danny's lips. Kiran had laughed at that.

"You haven't changed much!" Kiran said wryly.

"What was it?" Danny asked.

"You don't want to know," Lena had assured him.

"Tell me anyway," said Danny between gritted teeth as another collision shook the hovercraft.

"Swamp beasts," Kiran replied, flipping open a set of controls on the arm of his seat. "Here. Take a look."

An image flashed up on the holograph table in the middle of the room. It was in three dimensions and rotating, but Danny still had to frown at it for a while before he could work out what it was.

"It's an insect," he concluded aloud. "I've seen something like it before."

"It's a springtail, of a sort," his brother supplied. "You got them in our time too, but ours were a bit smaller. A hundred time smaller! They're still not much of a size, but they travel in packs and can jump high enough to get onto the hovercraft."

"They can't get in though, right?" Danny asked, his eyebrows raised.

"Not this thing, no," Kiran reassured him. "But they have learned that these things have nice juicy humans inside, and they've worked out that jumping onto the craft, or into the side of it, messes with the steering. They're trying to crash us."

"Those things are intelligent?" Danny checked. "How? I thought insects didn't have brains"

"They don't," Lena cut in. "They have neural ganglia. Several of them. As body size increased, so did the size of the ganglia. Just because we have evolved big brains for intelligence, doesn't mean its the only way of getting there. Evolution is an expert when it comes to finding new ways to solve old problems!"

XXXX

Sarah yawned. It was early, but the ARC always had somebody on duty and she wanted to get an hour or so of research done on Jenny's movements before her disappearance before the official work began. Her route from the locker rooms to the labs took her past Lester's office and she looked in. She wasn't the only person getting an early start: Lester sat behind his desk, a frown of concentration on his face as he perused the screen of the laptop in front of him. Sarah knocked and opened the door.

"It is customary to wait until the other person says 'come in' before you intrude into a person's workspace, Doctor Page," murmured Lester, his attention still on the screen before him. "Since you're here, though, come and look at this."

"What is it?" Sarah asked, stepping round to the other side of the desk and taking the chair that Lester vacated for her.

"It is CCTV footage from the cameras around the residence of Ms Jennifer Lewis," said Lester pensively. "I do have some contacts of my own, you know."

Lester leant down and pressed a few keys on the laptop. Eight images appeared across the screen, the single image that had been hiding them reducing into the last of the eight boxes. Another few keys put each of the camera feeds back to the start of their clips.

"Play them together and follow her through them," said Lester, indicating the 'play all' button on the screen. Sarah clicked it and sat back.

The first camera looked straight down Jenny's street. After a few seconds she could be seen opening her front door and stepping out. She was dressed as Sarah had never seen her before: sturdy boots had replaced the trademark stiletto heels and the outfit she was wearing with them was more suited to a hill walker than a city PR agent. A sizeable and well-packed rucksack was slung over her shoulder. Sarah noted, as Jenny turned and locked the door, that there was what looked like a bedding roll attached to the top of the rucksack.

Jenny walked down the steps before her house and turned onto the pavement, walking away from the camera. She turned out of the street and was lost to view. Sarah's gaze moved to the next camera. It took a few seconds, but soon Jenny showed up there, making her way purposely and deliberately along that street, then the next and so on until the eighth and final camera feed.

It took longer for her to appear on this one. The feed showed garages built under the arches of one of London's many bridges. Jenny walked across to one of the garages, unlocked the door and walked inside.

Lester leant down and paused the camera feeds. Sarah looked round and met his grave eyes with a frown of confusion.

"My contact has put this set together for me," said Lester, "but he also sent me the entirety of the camera data from this last camera. Nowhere on it does Ms Lewis exit that building."

"Maybe there's another exit?" Sarah suggested.

Lester shook his head. "I've been down there myself, off the record of course. There is no sign of Jenny inside the building, and no other way out that I can find."

"Are you sure you looked everywhere?" Sarah pressed.

"I did not get where I am today, Doctor Page, by cutting corners," said Lester acerbically. "I assure you there is nothing that I could possibly have missed."

"Then where is she?" Sarah shrugged.

"I fear the question now," Lester sighed, "is not so much 'where' Jennifer Lewis may be, but 'when'."


End file.
